'There's a culture of impunity': investigating deforestation in South America
Bolivia has become the second-worst nation in the world for the loss of primary forests; the team at the Gecko Project decided to ask why
Global forest loss reached record highs last year after a surge in wildfires, according to University of Maryland and Global Forest Watch analysis.
Fire became the leading cause of forest loss for the first time in 2024 in tropical regions, but this is not a natural development. Wildfires are frequently started by people. It could be that a small fire gets out of control and spreads, or it could be set intentionally to clear trees. Other major causes of forest loss include deforestation for industry, including cattle ranching, other types of agriculture and timber.
Despite a global pledge to halt deforestation agreed at Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021, 17 of the top 20 forested nations are losing trees at a faster rate today than when the deal was made.
One country which has experienced increasingly heavy deforestation is Bolivia. This prompted the team at the Gecko Project, a journalism non-profit, to investigate. They found some surprising answers to the question of why Bolivia is losing its forests, and these came together in a documentary entitled Bolivia Burning which is available on YouTube now.
Wild Crime recently spoke to David Hill and Alvaro Garcia, the team behind the film, to find out what they learned.
Where did the idea for the film come from?
David Hill: We had spent years looking at deforestation. Looking at South America made sense in terms of the amount of forest being cleared. But we felt that Bolivia was being ignored. There was very little, if any, coverage in the media about what was going on there. And very few international NGOs were working on it.
Over the last few years, Bolivia has gone from fourth place in the world in terms of losing primary tropical forests, to third, and then last year to second. It’s higher in Brazil, but Brazil is many times larger.
So Tom [Johnson, of the Gecko Project] was very keen to make a film for those reasons. And he was also very interested in the Mennonites, both in terms of their role in Bolivian deforestation and the key role they play in the soy industry, which is one of the two biggest drivers.
Alvaro Garcia: David and I wrote a report a couple of years ago for Global Witness about Bolivia being one of the biggest countries with the highest rates of deforestation. This information was a driver for Tom to take the decision to embark on this project.
How did you come to focus on wildfires?
DH: We knew there were fires and we were following things very closely before we went. Then we arrived right in the middle of what turned out to be the worst ever year for fires in Bolivia’s history. We were on the plane with a group of Spanish firefighters that were coming over to help the Bolivians deal with the problem.
From our first day in Santa Cruz we felt it. We went up to one of the tallest buildings in Santa Cruz on our first night and saw the smog.
And because of the interrelationship between the fires and the deforestation, it was something we really wanted to explore. And so that became the jumping off point for the film itself. The film itself, the story, evolved very organically.
What are the main drivers of deforestation in Bolivia?
AG: [The main drivers are] the agricultural and cattle ranching industry. We know everybody is conscious that they have been the main drivers. The problem with that is that at the moment, the city with the most amount of resources generated is Santa Cruz. That’s thanks to this business. But they pay very little in terms of taxes.
Bolivia is in a deep economic crisis and they see the agriculture industry as a way to get out, get more resources. The consequences are very bad.
There’s a scene in Bolivia Burning where a mennonite colonist is speaking about the impact on the area’s wildlife. What are the consequences of devastation?
AG: Well, it was very ironic that he recognises the fact that [it was an area] that was big and beautiful, it was humid, it was green. And there were these deers and these animals and jaguars. And now you see the field and the field is absolutely empty.
It’s heartbreaking. I mean, two minutes before that, because that was a field that was still on fire. As David mentioned, the film developed very organically and we were just standing by a big massive trunk that was still very hot. And we were just like, okay, yeah, this is really bad. It was a very heartbreaking moment. Because, I mean, you can see the state of the land.
In one of the clips, we’ve been driving for hours and hours and all we’ve seen is burnt forests. We’ve been working on environmental issues for quite some time, many, many years. David would agree with me that it’s the first time that we’ve seen this level of disaster.
And it was very humbling and very shocking as well.
DH: It’s a good word. It was very humbling. It was sad. It was heart-wrenching at times. The forest itself was very quiet. The animals, the birds had gone.
In the film, you show a chart comparing permits for forest clearance and the actual amount of forest cleared. The latter is much higher. How much of this clearance is illegal?
DH: There was a report four years ago from the NGO Forest Trends estimating that roughly three quarters of all agro-conversion land clearance in Bolivia is ‘likely illegal’, although it acknowledges that figure was based on low quality data, and saying that more than half of Bolivia’s soy exports in particular are ‘likely’ to be grown on illegally cleared land.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to address that distinction between what is legal and what isn’t [in the film] – mainly because, more than anything, we were simply trying to draw attention to how the government has been encouraging and facilitating deforestation.
We heard of coca being grown in even more remote parts and we know that Bolivia has a major gold mining problem as well – the vast majority of which is reported to be illegal. So there are all those other forest-related issues going on on top of the deforestation driven by soy and cattle-ranching.
AG: What we know is that the agencies that are supposed to persecute people that are starting the fires don’t do their job. We know that getting a permit to clear forests is very easy, and even [without a permit], the fines for clearing forests are just minimal.
I’m going to give you an example. On the 24th of June in San Juan it’s the winter solstice and from the 21st there’s a ban on starting fires in the city. And the fine is 4,300 Bolivianos (£463) if you start a fire in the city. If you start a fire in the forest, it’s 200 Bolivianos (£21). And by the way, the agency that is supposed to come and collect the money is not even going to come.
DH: It’s a bit of a cliché, but it does feel like it’s a real culture of impunity. People who do break the law are not held accountable.
A major part of your film is about the Mennonite communities. What are those communities like?
AG: We were very lucky to find a way of talking to them. Some of the colonies are very remote and we were very lucky to be able to roam around and be able to visit these people. They are very, very hard-working people, very, very honest.
I mean, there’s a classification between menonos modernos and menonos clasicos. Menonos clasicos, they don’t have electricity in the house, they still wear the dungarees, it’s very traditional. Women don’t speak any Spanish. Men are only allowed to speak Spanish to trade with Bolivians. Many of them, although they were born in Bolivia, don’t see themselves as Bolivians.
Then there are the menonos modernos that have left these traditional colonies. They wear jeans, t-shirts, they use mobile phones, and you can find them on TikTok.
DH: The film wasn’t our first time [visiting the communities] because of the Global Witness Report, which came out September 2023. So, that was our baptism of fire. But it was always interesting being there. [The communities] physically look so similar to each other, which made it sometimes very hard to navigate unless you were using a GPS, because everywhere looked the same.
Generally speaking, most people were disposed to talk to us. And honestly, it was very interesting hearing about their lives and how they farm as well. We took every opportunity to ask as much as we could about how they go about it.
What role do they play in deforestation?
DH: In terms of their role in the soy industry and deforestation, there’s a report we mentioned in the film from last year, a 2024 report by the Bolivian NGO CEDLA, which said 16 per cent of all Bolivian deforestation in 2016-2017 happened in the colonies. That’s obviously a great deal and they are a comparatively small percentage of the population. And it’s probably an underestimate.
There are certain parts of Santa Cruz in particular where you can drive and all you see is Mennonites farming. So their role there is very important. There’s an irony to it as well in that they’re going out often trying to find new land, some of them deliberately trying to live remotely or apart to some extent from the rest of the Bolivian culture, but at the same time they’re then selling back their produce into that society or culture or even abroad.
AG: When they started the colony 60 years ago, they were making crates for the Coca Cola company because the timber that was in the area was really good. Then they produced sorghum. Then they produced soy. And now Bolivia is opening markets in Asia for cattle ranching and many of them were considering moving into cattle ranching.
So although they live this very traditional Christian sectarian life, when it comes to money, whatever is needed, they’ll produce it. Everything they use is very modern. They know how to use absolutely top end technology. They might not have a TV inside the house, but they know everything that is necessary to know about these new technologies and machinery.
Bolivia Burning is available to watch now on the Gecko Project Youtube channel.